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Monday, November 28, 2011

Psalms 139, history and science. Here we go...Elizabeth Bury and the amazing Monarch Butterfly! Down near the bottom of the page I share one creature that, by itself, totally destroys the concept of Darwinism!

Elizabeth Bury is discussed at this page. She was a very devoted woman of God and a quite intelligent and diligent woman indeed! I will share her motto with you, from this page:

i.e. Thou LORD seest me,[2]plainly intimating her awful adoration of God’s omniscience, and that her eye of faith should be always upon him; and that she would ever act under the influence of that persuasion that God was present, whether in reading, praying, meditating, examining or recording the solemn transactions that passed betwixt him and her soul[3] in that closet.[4]

She always had this before her, that as oft as she entered in, and as long as she continued there, and in every duty she performed, it might be a memorial that every sin and folly and instance of her departure from God was perfectly known to him; and every penitent confession, tear and groan was in his sight and under the hearing of an omnipresent God; and every prayer and purpose and vow and solemn obligation made and renewed and ratified there was sacred and awful, as under the eye and notice of an all-seeing and heart-searching God. And this she often found had greatly restrained her from sin and excited her to duty, and disposed her for comfortable communion with God, and kept her heart from trifling in her closet.

[1] The characters are a facsimile from the second and third editions, 1721.

[2] Genesis 16:13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

[3]Cf. Joseph Alleine, Alarme to Unconverted Sinners: ‘This covenant I advise you to make…Keep it as a memorial of the solemn transactions that have passed between God and you.’

[4] Matthew Henry’s sister Sarah was aware of Elizabeth Bury’s closet motto, for on February 4, 1727 she writes, ‘I read a sermon of my dear father’s concerning the last judgment. Many things in it very awful; but that which, especially, affected me was this, “Things done in the closet shall be proclaimed”. This should excite me to seriousness. The motto good Mrs Bury had written in her closet was – Thou God seest me. I praise my God that this thought yields me some comfort. My dear and kind heavenly Father sees some secret transactions between him and me, which I trust he will accept only, only for Christ’s sake’ – Diary of Mrs Sarah Savage (1664–1752).

If you are not familiar with the style of Old England, the writing above will seem stilted and a bit difficult. "Awful" now would more likely be "Awesome" in modern language. If you are familiar with the writings of Jane Austen you will read the Bury section and apprehend it. The writings of Old England were quite conservative in tone and in fact this tendency followed the Founders across the pond to America. If you have read many writings of our Founding Fathers you will see more similarity to the style of the author, above, than you will in 21st Century prose. To an extent our society has not only lost morality but also a good measure of civility and grace. It is the world in which we live now, so in vernacular and tone I also speak with a modern tone on this blog. I suppose the internet, automobiles, central air conditioning and a constant supply of clean, fresh water makes up for the loss? We would do well to recover a bit of our lost morality for the sake of the future of our children and our children's children. Okay, off the soap box.

Now I will share a bit of scripture interspersed with comments and notes and the Bible will be inbright blue.

Psalm 139 - English Standard Version (ESV)

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.3You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.4Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

Elizabeth Bury knew that God knew her intimately and completely, in fact, God knows us better than we know ourselves. The wise man understands that God made everything and therefore He made you and knows you and sees you. To me, this is a comfort, for I know He knows and understands me and has mercy on my weaknesses and seeks to help me conquer them and accomplish things both good and great.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,"

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

There is no place where God does not know for God has made all things. God invented everything and in fact he invented nothing. He created the material world, which is why all naturalistic explanations for the Universe are both logically and mathematically absurd. In stark contrast to Darwinist story-tellers and believers in UM, Elizabeth Bury was a brilliant woman of many accomplishments and interests which humble me to consider. The secret of her genius must have been her devotion to and knowledge of God!

16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

Yes, as science advances we discover how wondrous a human being is - 100 trillion cells with ten times that many microorganisms inhabiting us as if we were a planet or a spacecraft. We discover that DNA, the four character code exponentially more complex than binary computer code, is not just a means of coding for reproduction but actually has continuing uses. We also see that the so-called "junk DNA" is actually quite functional and contains oversight and quality control features. We have discovered that the cell itself is also holder of information and algorithms. Not only is DNA and the cell a symbiotic relationship with one not capable of existence without the other, symbiosis goes far beyond a partnership between two organisms. Within our cells manifold systems and components work in harmony. We ourselves harbor microorganisms that help us live while at the same time we provide a life for them. In the ecosystem of Earth there are often multiple organisms all working together to survive and unable to do so alone. Information, design, algorithms...Life is so obviously designed that it hurts my brain to think that anyone doubts it!

I cannot hate my Darwinist foes. I want them to know the truth. Despite the fact that they often attack my character and try to mock me, I will continue to try to present reasons to them to abandon Darwinism, give up on UM and discover God and real science.

The enemies of God, if they remain enemies, shall pay a fearful price in coming face to face with their Creator having lived a life thumbing their noses at Him. Those who disdain the gift purchased at the terrible price paid by Jesus Christ to save them from their own eternal demise will not find me adding to their griefs. They will pay with Hell. I know Hell is eternal separation from God, it is eternal punishment and it is a fate so terrible and awful that I do not spend much time pondering it. I seek to keep you from knowing exactly what it is!

Readers, there is no sense in continuing to believe in nothing when there is a Great and Wondrous God who has revealed Himself in so many ways. Consider the Monarch butterfly.

"How long does a monarch live?"

"Why do monarchs migrate south?"

The answers to these two questions go hand-in-hand. Children ask them all the time. Most monarchs live from two to six weeks as an adult butterfly, but the Monarch's migration is the KEY to its yearly life cycle.

The total time frame for one butterfly's life cycle (one generation) is about 6-8 weeks . . . egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. It grows inside the egg for about 4 days. It then munches milkweed and grows as a monarch caterpillar (larvae) for about 2 more weeks. The caterpillar's life inside the chrysalis (pupa) lasts about 10 days and its wonderful life as an adult butterfly lasts from 2 - 6 weeks.

February/March - hibernating monarchs in Mexico and southern California reawaken, become active, find a mate, begin the flight northward and lay their eggs. Finally they die. These special monarchs have lived about 4-5 months through the long winter.

Sept/Oct - the 4th generation is born - egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult butterfly . . . but THIS generation does not die. It MIGRATES south and lives 6-8 months in Mexico or Southern California. They begin awakening and mating in February/March of the NEXT SPRING, and then lay their eggs! Withered and tattered from their migration and hibernation . . . they finally die.

The cycles goes on as the new baby caterpillars are born each spring and the cycle continues throughout the year into the next spring. MAGICAL and AMAZING!

The last generation is called the Methuselah Generation, named for the longest-lived Biblical Patriarch of the prediluvial world. The Monarch only lays eggs on Milkweed, which grows in the USA and Canada. But it must winter far south in the Transvolcanic region of Mexico, far from the food the caterpillar eats. It is first an egg, a beautiful egg that resembles the dome of a cathedral. This egg hatches and becomes a caterpillar, which is basically a multiple-legged eating machine that grows out of it's own skin and must make a new skin and then escape the old with a variety of specialized systems needed to accomplish this. It quickly grows and then begins to transform into a chrysalis that hangs from the Milkweed. Within the chrysalis a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. A caterpillar forms a few cells before it goes to chrysalis stage that will be used to help make a butterfly, but most of the caterpillar cells will be dissolved and re-formed into completely new cells for an entirely new creature as the Monarch goes from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Evolution cannot begin to explain this. Monarch Butterflies get nutrition from flowers but, because they are first born of a caterpillar that eats Milkweed, which is poisonous, predators tend to recognize the Monarch wing pattern because the adult butterfly contains some of the Milkweed's poison. They do not taste good!

But, for the Darwinist it soon gets worse. Monarchs migrate North as the Milkweed grows with the season, and there will be two or three generations of short-lived Monarchs that go egg-caterpillar-chrysalis-butterfly-lay eggs and die. The Monarchs move North to places like Michigan and Southern Canada in their last migration North before the seasonal changes clue the Methuselah Generation to begin their migration to either the Transvolcanic Plateau of Mexico or a small percentage that overwinter in Southern California. So not the children nor grandchildren of butterflies wind up going back South, but rather it will be the great or great-great grandchildren that are almost always the ones that live nine months rather than a few short weeks and go to flock together by the millions upon millions in a type of hibernation for the winter in a place their parents never visited.

Recent studies of the Eastern populations show that most come together in Texas and follow a path through Mexico South before making a hard turn towards the trees they will flock on for winter. But some choose to go across the Gulf of Mexico rather than go West towards Texas and now oil rigs in the Gulf have proved to be convenient resting spot for groups of migrating Monarchs. Did they fly across the Gulf without rest before there were oil rigs?

What explanation can Darwinists give for 20,000 species of butterflies, all of which can clearly identify the one plant it's caterpillar can eat and lays its eggs thereon? Then how do you explain the Monarch, which not only has four different life forms in its life cycle, but also normally goes through four generations between overwintering far from Milkweed to the butterflies that will live 9 months and make their way back down South to the home away from home they have never known?

There are yet more perplexing facts about butterflies in general and Monarchs in particular. They have inbuilt algorithms that cause them to know when to migrate and how to navigate to a strange location. In fact the information required to cause them to take four different forms, know what plant to lay their eggs on (a plant poisonous to most creatures) be able to have multiple short migratory generations following the Milkweed North and then have one long-lived generation to migrate South with uncanny accuracy and success. The very design of butterfly wings is being studied and copied by human engineers. Within all these designs it appears that our God has also given us clues that He not only made both us and the Monarch, He knows will will be and when. A researcher has found all letters of the English alphabet and all ten Arabic numerals on the wings of butterflies, for instance:

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The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.Francis Maitland Balfour

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The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.Francis Maitland Balfour